A Look At April Fool's Day

When we were kids, we LOVED April 1st. Spent days or weeks coming up with the one prank that would shock, stun, piss off,  or have a reaction of total hilarity.  Sometimes they were not funny.  The guy who jumped off a bridge to scare his girlfriend and realized he miscalculated the length of his bungie cord.  Oops.  It goes back to the old saying of what a Redneck (excuse me, NASCAR American) says before he dies is....."Hey, Hold my beer and watch this"...

Anyway, straight from Wikipedia is a paragraph or two on the origins of April Fools Day...just in case you were wondering. 

The custom of setting aside a day for the playing of harmless pranks upon one's neighbor is recognized everywhere.^{[1][dubious – discuss]} Some precursors of April Fools' Day include the Roman festival of Hilaria.

Bertha R. McDonald, in Harper's Weekly explicated an origin of April Fools' Day, stating that some "authorities gravely back with it to the time of Noah and the ark, and the London Public Advertiser of March 13, 1769, prints the following paragraph concerning this theory: 'The mistake of Noah sending the dove out of the ark before the water had abated, on the first day of April, and to perpetuate the memory of this deliverance it was thought proper, whoever forgot so remarkable a circumstance, to punish them by sending them upon some sleeveless errand similar to that ineffectual message upon which the bird was sent by the patriarch'."^[2]

In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392), the "Nun's Priest's Tale" is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.^[3] Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon.^[4] Thus the passage originally meant 32 days after March, i.e. 2 May,^[5] the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. Readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean "32 March", i.e. April 1.^{[citation needed][6]} In Chaucer's tale, the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox.

In 1508, French poet Eloy d'Amerval referred to a poisson d’avril (April fool, literally "Fish of April"), a possible reference to the holiday.^[7] In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1.^[5] In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the holiday as "Fooles holy day", the first British reference.^[5] On April 1, 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed".^[5]

In the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on March 25 in most European towns.^[8] In some areas of France, New Year's was a week-long holiday ending on April 1.^[9][10] Some writers suggest that April Fools' originated because those who celebrated on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates.^[9] The use of January 1 as New Year's Day was common in France by the mid-16th century,^[5] and this date was adopted officially in 1564 by the Edict of Roussillon.

In the Netherlands, the origin of April Fools' Day is often attributed to the Dutch victory at Brielle in 1572, where the Spanish Duke Álvarez de Toledo was defeated. "Op 1 april verloor Alva zijn bril." is a Dutch proverb, which can be translated to: "On the first of April, Alva lost his glasses." In this case, the glasses ("bril" in Dutch) serve as a metaphor for Brielle. This theory, however, provides no explanation for the international celebration of April Fools' Day

AND THESE OF COURSE  (copy and paste)

http://tiphero.com/top-10-worst-april-fools-day-fails-of-all-time/

HAVE A GREAT DAY

Election is over, let's talk FOOD!

Election is over! (YAY) and we have a President Trump.  Cheer if you like, Swear if you're pissed.  Let's talk about Thanksgiving Dinner.

This year, we are doing T-day a week or so earlier with relatives coming to town.  As I am on the low carb / very little sugar diet, Holidays are going to be a bit different for me this year. First off, I have to stay away from the thing I wait all year for. My Martinelli's sparkling Cranberry/Apple juice. LOADED with sugars. 

My inspiration is that I have dropped 23 pounds in about 6 weeks by doing nothing more than cutting out 90% of carbs and sugars.  I DO feel better, and losing the weight has made it easier to RUN away from all those no no foods that tend to make me rounder. 

I still allow myself a little dark chocolate every day and some carbs.  But I have leaned that I do not have to eat the WHOLE loaf of french bread or the entire 1/4 pound chocolate bar.  

So, for Thanksgiving this year it's non hormone fed turkey, cornbread stuffing, (Half a serving for me) Green Beans and a bit of cranberry. Easy on the gravy as it FAT FAT FAT, and and some organic mashed potato (half my usual amount).

To drink, I have gone to Club Soda and lime. Refreshing and bubbly.

Where people get slammed dieting during the holidays, is, of course, candies and cakes and pies and ice cream, and of course alcohol.  (The 5 Holiday food groups).  My weakness being the baked goods. I don't drink, so I don't pour on the sugar there.  (Alcohol turns to sugar the minute it passes your teeth). I have given up doing the score card...you know,  If I don't have this, I can have this...does not work, because you have no willpower.  That is the key. Step away from the table.  Here is my challenge. Today, I weigh 223.7 pounds (from about 246 6 weeks ago). My goal through the holidays is not so much to lose a whole lot more, (That would be nice, but it's a lot of pressure) but to maintain where I am and not gain. I will occasionally end a blog with today's weight. But I will not make blogs here  about what I am eating...what a bore. Join me in the challenge. What the hell? 

Here is something my wife told me that has helped a lot. Your divine beings watching over you take you literally when you say stuff. Being your spiritual guardians, they try to help you. So if you say "I have lost XX pounds on this diet," they will find the weight you lost and give it back to you. Instead, think of it as Releasing the weight instead of losing it.  A simple mind thing, but hey, it works. 

Please become a follower.  Thanks! Have a great day!

I Think (Part 2)

I THINK

What consumes your mind controls your life.

You should stop looking for happiness in the exact place you lost it

It's scary what a smile can hide.

The smarter you get, the less you speak.

The secret of having it all is believing that you already do.

You can still be a good person with a kind heart and still say "no".

You have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

Silence is an answer too.

Falling down is an accident. Staying down is a choice.

When nothing goes right, turn left.

Creativity is intelligence having fun.

Nothing haunts us like what we did NOT say.

The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence. 

Have a Great Day

The biggest word in the English Language

I took a couple of days off. Mostly because of what is happening in the political landscape.  I fear I would be caught in the whirlwind of speculation. 

It seems as though the News Channels don't report the news, really.  If there is a breaking story of course they will report it. A cat stuck in a well, or a police car chase in California.  That's all important breaking news. And of course, anything that has to do with the weather.  

For the most part though, the talking heads spend a lot of time speculating and bringing in experts who further speculate, and of course the top guys who speculate on what the experts just speculated on. A lot of "What Ifs"

IF is the biggest word in the english language. Most things depend on IF.  'If I win the lottery, then....'  or  'If so and so gets his promotion, then I might take his place on the food chain'... 'If my team wins the next three games they might take the championship' 

If you meet the right person, if you make enough money, if you pray for it, if if if if if if............

Seems like you are leaving a lot of stuff to chance. 

Here is a simple affirmation. You CAN change the outcome of a lot of things in YOUR life by just changing the word if to the word when. Call it what you want. Positive thinking, whatever. IT WORKS because it changes your perspective from victim to winner.  From now on, say 'When I win the lottery' or 'when I get that promotion'  The outcome may not be what you expected. Who knows, it might be better.

Have a great day!

The Eskimo

So, A guy walks into a bar in Anchorage, Alaska.  He sits down and orders a Beer.  To his right is a sad looking man drowning his sorrows.  To his left is a preacher. (Don't ask me why there is a preacher sitting at the bar...just roll with it). He chuckles a bit and says to the preacher, "I don't believe in your God."  Unfazed, the preacher smiles and asks why?

The guy tell him a story...

"I was flying across the Tundra in a small plane, and we had to force a landing in the middle of nowhere. The pilot was ejected and died.  I was stuck in the middle of a vast land. It was at least 4 or 5 day walk to anywhere that I knew of, and I had no food or water after using up whatever snacks and stuff there was on the plane. After sitting there for 2 days I figured I would pray to God to rescue me.  I walked all day praying and praying, but nothing. No answer to my prayer...So I am convinced that your God does not exist."

The preacher smiled a bit, and said, "Surely you must believe. You are here, and alive and able to tell me this story."

The man scoffed a bit and said, "Naw, out of nowhere some Eskimo showed up and rescued me."

Never overlook your eskimos.  They are everywhere.  You just have to be aware of them. And all you have to do is ask. You are surrounded by beings of light. It's up to you to recognize them.